The Summer Academy on Intercultural Experience takes place from 15th – 26th July and is organized by InterCultur gGmbH (subsidiary of AFS Germany) and Karlshochschule International University. It approaches relevant topics in the field of intercultural management, communication and training and is intended to foster the intercultural perspective within the field of management studies as well as to develop applied solutions for the problems in business and society.
Track 1: Intercultural Cooperation
- Intercultural Relations:
This course is focusing on some of the principal rules and ways of entering and administrating international cooperation networks. The topic includes institutional as well as social conditions and constraints on the relationship-building processes. In order to show a complete panorama of the related issues, this course will introduce in some basic terms of political sciences, will sound the frameworks in some societal domains (like media, education, industrial sectors) and will discuss some cases of regional and border-crossing integration processes (e.g. in the EU, but not exclusively). The seminar will as well ask if management and organization are phenomena which can be explained in any context by a ‘typical western perspective’ of rationality, efficiency and effectiveness or if other perspectives are more suitable to guide analysis and problem solving processes.
- Conflict and Conflict Resolution:
Today’s societies are differentiated up to a very high degree, due to the flux of migration and refugees, but often just because of historical developments that led to the current situation. Influencing factors can be post-colonial politics, economical dynamics, changing awareness of diversity in a specific context, and, of course, the overall globalization of information.Sometimes, intercultural issues derive from differences in the cultural encoding and decoding of our activities. Often, as well, diversity is interpreted as ideology and the encounter of conflicting value systems.This course introduces in the basic terminology of international conflict resolution and peace research, and studies some exemplary cases, e.g. the conflict in Palestine, Timor, North Morocco etc.
Track 2: Intercultural Integration
- Cultural Diversity
This course introduces you to the most important foundations of the study and research on cultural diversity. From the principal understanding, that diversity is a product of socio-communicative processes, we will find ways to develop the standpoint that diversity is an expression of the relational connections between social identities. On the one hand, diversity is an integrating momentum of life that helps us to develop and socialize in specific societal environments. On the other hand, the perceived cultural diversity within the society or within an organization is a result of our own activities and the way we define our relationships. The deeper understanding of this mechanism sheds light on the potentials of diverse socio-cultural configurations.
- Diversity and Sustainable Integration
The theories of exclusion and inclusion in recent sociological and cultural research (Luhmann, Rathje, and others) clearly show that discrimination and biases in leadership behavior are strongly linked to ideological imprintings and stereotypical social cognitions. This holds true for the respective phenomena all around cultural diversity as well, where “culture” is sometimes mistaken for “power” or “competence”. The development of socio-cultural sustainable solutions in the context of a diverse society that needs integration will help to overcome the categorical underpinnings with regard to the related conflict. This course will treat some of these phenomena with special attention towards migration and intercultural integration.
Please see the website for further information
